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Those working as teachers, researchers, protest paying student fees

By Cassa Niedringhaus

Staff Writer

Posted:
02/09/2019 04:00:51 PM MST

Graduate student activism is growing at the University of Colorado.

The Committee on Rights and Compensation, a graduate student advocacy group and labor organization seeking a collective bargaining agreement with the university, on Tuesday executed its largest action in its three-year history with a walkout and rally that drew a loud crowd of hundreds who demanded that graduate students who work for the university as teachers and researchers no longer be required to pay student fees.

In the months leading up to Tuesday's protest, the organization collected more than 1,600 signatures in support, including more than 1,000 — or approximately one out of every five — current graduate students, organizers said.

Their efforts come amid a groundswell of unionization efforts at both public and private universities around the country. Although the movement to unionize by teaching and research assistants dates back decades, a National Labor Relations Board decision in 2016 to again recognize graduate assistants at private universities as employees added momentum.

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That momentum is similar to the large wave of successful organizing drives by adjunct faculty members at institutions around the country, said William A. Herbert, the executive director of the National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions. The center is based out of Hunter College in New York City.

Their efforts also have gotten the attention of campus governing groups and high-ranking administrators.

"I think the biggest change for me was that I didn't really conceive of myself as a worker right away," said Marianne Reddan, a doctoral student in psychology and neuroscience. "Then I started to realize: No, I am. I then realized that unions are something really important for graduate students."

Rapid growth

CRC organizers said they've been building from what once was a handful of volunteers and laying the groundwork for a strong organization.

It takes time, they said, to build an organization with grassroots power.

"It was really unclear, while forming initially, how successful it could be long-term because any group of people that shows up on a volunteer basis — it's new; it's exciting; you're passionate or interested in these issues — but that can only sustain for so long," said Kelsey Cody, who earned his Ph.D. in December.

The rally illustrated the sustaining energy among graduate students, he said.

CRC organizers also said they've notched achievements, such as advocating for and receiving stipend increases and building a structure in which they can record student grievances. They cited the rally as evidence of growing recognition and support.

On Tuesday, CRC members recruited new members from the crowd that marched from Farrand Field to the Regent Administrative Center during the rally and walkout.

"We've observed rapid growth," said Gregor Robinson, a doctoral student in applied mathematics. "We've succeeded in using that growth to develop our resources and achieve more."

And they're not alone, Herbert said. Although various factors come into play — including the status of the law, the activism on a particular campus, the individual institution's position, and whether the institution is public or private — teaching and research assistants have been organizing and unionizing since 1970, he said.

And even in states such as Colorado that do not provide for collective bargaining rights among graduate students, those students still have First Amendment protections to associate and organize. In many other states, graduate assistants at public institutions have a statutory right to organize. Even without that legal right, universities also have chosen to voluntarily recognize such unions, he said.

In 2007, Gov. Bill Ritter signed an executive order that allowed for certain state employees to create employee organizations, but students were exempted, said Dean Conder, the labor relations administrator for the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.

However, he said, there's no state precedence in the area of graduate student unionization, and the university could likely choose to voluntarily accept it, though there would be no obligation.

Unions provide a voice for graduate students to raise issues in a collective way, and it gives them a vehicle to address such issues as stipends, health insurance, enforceable sexual harassment policies, professional development and leave time, among other issues, Herbert said.

'Pressure from below'

CU officials said the dean of the Graduate School and other campus officials work closely with the United Government of Graduate Students, the official elected governing body, to examine the needs of graduate students.

They said the best and most efficient line of communication for graduate students to express concerns would be through the student government.

"The collaborative relationship between UGGS and the Graduate School has already led to impactful changes such as increased graduate student stipends, the elimination of some fees, housing and mentorship surveys, and other engagement and improvements," CU spokeswoman Deborah Mendez Wilson said in a written statement.

"The Graduate School — and the university in its entirety — values the talents and contributions of our graduate students and remains committed to improving the graduate student experience at CU Boulder. We expect to learn more about how we can continue that important work after our task force has completed its work this spring."

The task force was created last fall to examine the stipends and benefits paid to graduate student workers, and included a survey to which 63 percent of first-year graduate students and 58 percent of continuing graduate students responded. The full results have not yet been released.

CRC organizers said they see their work and the work of the student government to be complementary but different because the CRC is independent of the university, including its funds.

"While we are glad that the university is at least beginning to recognize that there is problem with compensation, we think that there has to be a pressure from below so that that graduate task force can have success," said Brandon Daniels, a doctoral student in communication.

Fee waiver resonates

The fee waiver issue in particular struck a chord, and their petition spread like a wildfire, CRC organizers said.

"There's no issue in my experience organizing that resonates so deeply with graduate students than this one," Daniels said. "... It's because there's a disrespect that's built into the fee system."

CRC organizers said they believe it resonated so strongly because graduate students who work for the university as teachers and researchers have to turn around and give a portion of their first paychecks back to the university to pay the fees, which can be 10 percent of their stipends.

Of approximately 5,500 graduate students, there are 2,672 graduate part-time instructors, research assistants and teaching assistants, according to data provided by the university. They make an average of $21,451 to $24,793, depending on the position, when they have a full appointment.

The averages are based on a 20-hour-per-week position during the academic year. They exclude summer appointments, student assistant pay, one-time payments and university contributions of $3,630 to health care premiums, as well as tuition remission.

According to the university, 84 percent of graduate part-time assistants, 94 percent of research assistants and 82 percent of teaching assistants have appointments for which they receive 100 percent tuition remission. Those students are slated to work between 18 and 20 hours per week to receive remission of nine to 18 enrolled credit hours per term.

However, many graduate students said they often far exceed the 20-hour cap, even if they are working in positions that are slated for fewer hours per week and therefore come with further reduced stipends. Their financial situations can be precarious, with slim margins for error, they said.

Katharine Adamyk, a doctoral student in the math department, for example, tutors in addition to her teaching work at the university and still has to borrow money from her family each year to make ends meet, a privilege she said many other students don't have.

Sarah Salmon, another doctoral student in the math department, summed up the situation of some graduate students this way: "It's one root canal away from being homeless. It's one car accident away from being homeless."

Leslie Reynolds, interim dean of the graduate school, reiterated that CU officials are concerned about graduate students' financial challenges, which is why they've added $5.8 million to graduate student stipends and benefits since 2016, and another $2.1 million is pending approval by the Board of Regents.

She said the fee waiver specifically might be difficult, and she wants to see the outcome of the task force's work first. She seeks solutions that would be fair and equitable for all students, she said.

"One of the things I need to be clear about is that all of our students — all 30,000-plus students — pay fees that support services for students, that support all students," she said. "It would be really difficult to have a small group of students not pay fees."

Juan Garcia Oyervides, president of the United Government of Graduate Students, said he agreed as a graduate student that the fees are too high, particularly in relation to current stipends.

"Our role as graduate student government is to represent and support the initiatives of our fellow graduate students," he said in an email. "We have identified fees in general to be one of the most pressing concerns for grad and professional students at CU Boulder. This initiative in particular offers a very concrete solution to start alleviating this burden and even though we did not initiate the petition, we're supporting it as much as we're capable of doing it."

The fee structure has a negative impact on the most vulnerable segments of the student body, he said, because not all graduate programs offer the same level of funding, but all graduate students are mandated to pay the same fees.

"I think the university is well positioned to make this ideal, the fee waiver, a reality," he said. "We know that the administration is looking for ways to better support our graduate students, and therefore, this petition offers a good opportunity to implement a significant change that is coming directly from the students and which offers little room for controversy."

An 'impressive' effort

The Boulder Faculty Assembly on Thursday passed a notice of motion, which it will vote on next month, that would support the graduate student government and CRC calls for a fee waiver for graduate student workers. Some faculty attended the Tuesday rally as a show of support, too.

Robert Pasnau, a professor of philosophy and the director of the Center for Western Civilization, Thought and Policy, said that the teaching and research labor of graduate students is a fundamental piece of how research universities function, and it is an important part of their training. However, he added, CU's graduate students are "woefully underpaid."

"The university would collapse tomorrow without graduate students to do the teaching they do for very little pay," he said.

In his 20 years at the university, the ongoing work by the CRC is the strongest he's seen, which he theorized is due in part to pay that is not keeping pace with the workload.

"I have been at the university a long time and have seen efforts to organize come and go, and this is the most impressive such effort I've seen so far," Pasnau said.

Robinson said that he values his experiences at the university. He and others in the CRC want to ensure that everyone has the same access.

"It's a privilege to be here, to be sure. I'm deeply grateful for the privilege to have gone to graduate school, and to have worked with the excellent faculty in my department, and to be paid to learn about and work on the things I love," Robinson said.

"I don't want that privilege to be denied of people, but unfortunately as it stands the low pay of a graduate worker does exclude people from the privilege that I have received."

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